There aren't words to convey just how happy this makes us. With Spring officially licking at the sanctified asphalt of the Nürburgring, testing season has kicked into high gear. Our elite squad of spy photographers has set up camp to take in the action and happened to catch this bizarre beastie obliterating its tires amongst a herd of other BMW mules. As you might expect, there's exactly zero information on the machine other than it looks for all the world to be an M3 pickup.

Trust us when we say that we're going to sleep more soundly tonight knowing that somewhere in the world, this creation exists.

We have no idea what the BMW engineers are up to with this one, though we love the idea of an M3-powered spiritual successor to the El Camino throne (bonus points for the camouflage as racing stripes motif, too). Assumed to have the same 4.0-liter V8 found in the nose of the current M3, this beast should be be good for 414 horsepower – perfect for making lickety-split runs to the hardware store.

We'd sell a passel of vital organs for a little seat time in this thing, even if it does simply turn out to be an early April Fool's joke. The shots are real, so perhaps BMW's design team are just blowing off some steam, or readying a one-off for Europe's tuner extravaganza of choice, the Essen Motor Show?